mary had a little lamb...the remix

regina carter ROCKS! she's, like, my (violin) IDOL!

okay, i am stoked that in my scratching practice this evening i gained some confidence in my bowing.

i played with the pressure of the bow on the strings. and i played with fingering the board. some of those notes just did not sound on scale, man. i had to make microadjustments with my newly found fingertips.

frustrated with my bowing transition from one string to another i stopped and began practicing the notes in pizzicato.

The finger pluck is satisfying. it reminds me of listening to symphonies when i was younger. i got the scale down and then i went to read the notes and play along.

i found the online metronome and was curt with my bow strokes at first. i was rushing to transition within my beat...and then i lowered the stakes by SLOWING down the tempo. brilliant, non?

intently toe-tapping, i counted out loud. then i prepped my index and middle finger above the D string and began stroking away from me with the bow...D, E, F, G (switch string), A, B, C, D (repeat D), and then back up the scale.

hrm. i did that okay.

so on to the music. it took me a bit to figure out how to count the half notes while playing. 1 and 2...3 and 4...

i botched some tempo, but i recognized the music when i pieced together the notes...the ol' favourite, "Go Tell Aunt Rody!" DUDE! I remember practicing this in Endicott, NY! It was the barely the 80s. We lived at 319 June Street and my teacher's name was Holly. She had beautiful long black hair and an awesome smile.

Endorphin rush...i remember! it's rusty, but here i am, looking at notes (that i have noted above the staff), reading them corresponding a bow stroke to them, and tapping my foot to keep time, and listening to the tick-tick of the metronome.

WOW! I played the first two bars? staffs? damn what are the lines of music called....
And I began to notice as my fingers and bowstrokes made sounds...

F, F, E, F, G, G, G, F, F, F, G, D, D
F, F, E, F, G, G, G, G,F,F,G, D, D
(or something. i am not sure on what notes are what...but the melody eeked out. it was cool!)

I got so intent in my playing...an hour passed! Almost 10 pm and i was alone in the office. yesterday i was watching the clock to put in a half-hour of playing.

sandy, my instructor, suggested that i play along with a piece of music to round out my practice.

i set lastfm.com to music akin to motzart, listened, and let my hands and fingers play.

heh.

loudly my violin wailed as i let my arms gesticulate and my mind replace the notes that were actually coming out of the body.

in my mind i was back to my 7,8,9 year old self making music.

endorphin rush!

i will be away from her for 4 days! querida violin!